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Although the winter has been pretty mild so far I have still been enjoying some hearty soups with the most recent one being this roasted cauliflower and aged white cheddar soup. It never ceases to amaze me how simple vegetable soups like this one can be so good with so few ingredients and that might be why I keep coming back to them. The main vegetable in this soup is of course the cauliflower and it is roasted before being added to the soup to concentrate its flavour and to get a bit of caramelization going. Up next is the basics with the onions and garlic followed by the herb of choice, thyme and finally the cheese. For the cheese I went with a white cheddar and one trick to keep in mind when adding cheese to soup like this is that if you use a stronger flavoured cheese like an aged cheddar then you will not need to use as much of it to get the same flavour. This soup can be amazingly creamy if you use heavy cream for some of the liquid but you can keep it on the lighter side by using milk.

If you are not worried about trying to keep things on the lighter side then cook some double smoked bacon for garnish and use the grease to saute the onions and garlic. This will add even more flavour and a really nice smokiness.

Directions

Toss the cauliflower florets in the oil along with the salt and pepper, arrange them in a single layer on a large baking sheet and roast in a preheated 400F oven until lightly golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat, add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.

Add the garlic and thyme and saute until fragrant, about a minute.

Add the broth, deglaze the pan, add the cauliflower, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

Puree the soup until it reaches your desired consistency with a stick blender.

Mix in the cheese, let it melt without bringing it to boil again.

Mix in the milk, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Slow Cooker: Implement step 1, optionally implement steps 2 & 3, place everything except the cheese and milk in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-10 hours or high for 2-4 hours before adding the cheese and milk and cooking until the cheese has melted.

*Note: The amount of broth that you are going to need will depend on how large your head of cauliflower is and how thick or thin you prefer the soup to be.

Looks absolutely Yummy. Perfect for a cold day. You just make great dishes! I have tried several and LOVE THEM! Have you ever made Chicken-n-dumplings? Would love to see how you make them! Mine never turn out, you could use the dumplings as a hockey puck! I am at high altitude (Denver) so would really love to see your's ...hint hint hint...PLEASE. :)))

Looks absolutely Yummy. Perfect for a cold day. You just make great dishes! I have tried several and LOVE THEM! Have you ever made Chicken-n-dumplings? Would love to see how you make them! Mine never turn out, you could use the dumplings as a hockey puck! I am at high altitude (Denver) so would really love to see your's ...hint hint hint...PLEASE. :)))

I just discovered your site recently on a random internet search and loved the recipes and pictures! I can't believe this is what you do in your "spare" time. You make the rest of us look lazy. I was getting more acquainted with "social media" reading this morning and saw your recipe on Pinterest. I saw that it was Closet Cooking and got SO excited. Keep up the good work.LisaMac, mother of 3 in Eugene, OR

Looks delicious! love the blog and will be stealing some recipe's, am new to blogging so please check mine out if you have a chance... i haven't posted any foody posts yet but intend to http://misseelle.blogspot.com/ :) xo

Hi Kevin - I love your photography and styling for this post - I'm also a big if distant (Liverpool - UK!) fan of your blog.

This looks delicious, I'm looking for recipes where I can incorporate some of the ingredients into purees for my little baby, so this is ideal. Also like the idea of cheddar instead of stilton for a change.

Made this tonight and it is wonderful! Only had 1 cup aged cheddar and 1 cup no fat l/2 & l/2. Sauteed some mushrooms and tossed those in at the last minute. Perfect. I'll freeze the leftovers for next week-end.

I can't remember how I got to your site, but I stumbled on this recipe and wanted to make it because I have never had cauliflower before. First off, the roasted cauliflower by itself was fantastic. Second, the soup was amazing. Probably one of the best soups I've had a chance to make this year. Delicious!

I'm a foodgawker addict and I swear every single recipe you post goes into my favorites. I'll add something and then look at the website later and go--oh, it's that guy again, I LOVE his recipes! Thanks for all the inspiration and yummy dinners. I love seeing what you come up with!

I made this over the weekend for my family (rave reviews!) My only tweak was to add a can of white beans to the simmer and then pureed with everything else. Added some nice body and extra protein and fiber, which I'm always trying to push on my kids. They really liked it. Thanks for another excellent recipe!!

Made this a couple days ago with Romanesco instead of Cauliflower and it turned out beautiful, thank you for sharing this. I ended up doing a double batch since my Romanesco was huge, and I found it works as a great base to adapt. Yesterday's lunch I added chipotle powder and sour cream, and today it was extra garlic and pesto, worked out great both ways. Huzzah!

I left out the pepper (hate black pepper with a passion) and thyme (store did not have any fresh thyme and I wasn't going to buy a bottle of the dried for one recipe). I went ahead and used the full box of veg. stock which was 4 cups. I used a 7oz. block of aged cheddar and it was perfect for the 1.5 cups of grated cheese. I went with fat free half and half and didn't feel like I was missing anything.

Thanks for the recipe! I am no longer supposed to eat raw cauliflower raw because it is goitrogenic, but most of the goitrogens are inactivated by cooking, so this was a perfect way to satisfy my craving for cauliflower.

this soup is amazing! my whole family enjoys this (including small kiddos)! i use skim milk and it is still very creamy. i tried it today with purple cauliflower... oh it's so pretty! same great flavor with some added antioxidants! thanks for posting this!

I made this tonight (I skipped a step and roasted the onion in large slices with the cauliflower. I also took a small bulb of garlic and wrapped it in foil and tossed it on the pan with the veggies.) This soup is absolutely amazing!

I just finished making this! It was delicious. However mine was super thick and I even used extra broth... and it was all like thick like baby food or something. Not sure how I will fix it, maybe its how much I blended it?

Anonymous: This recipe really wants a smaller head of cauliflower and a larger one will make it thicker. If I cannot get a small cauliflower, I use half of a larger one and save the rest for snacking on roasted with a dip.

It worked great with almond milk! I used half a cup of that and half a cup of great northern beans. And a third cup of white wine from the vineyard I work at. Also threw in some sauteed baby portobelos at the end. And served roasted garlic lemon rosemary red potatoes, which dipped in the soup nicely. Everyone has food babies now and is on their way to dreaming. Cheers

Thank you thank you for having a printable version! I make monthly meal plans trying to use a new recipe once a week and I search pinterest for them. All too often I end up printing multiple pages that I don't need. Can't wait to try your recipe!

Just made it and love it! Much better than the old recipe I had for a cauliflower cheddar soup. Just used regular orange old cheddar but also threw in a rind from parmasean cheese while the broth and cauliflower simmered, then took it out before blending. Great soup, love the roasted taste! Thanks!

This soup sounds and looks SO good! I can hardly wait to try it. I will be going with heavy whipping cream (not milk). I might top it off with a few piece of bacon, like you did. Definitely having hard bread with this - just like your photo shows. I can hardly wait!!!!

I just made this soup and it came out delicious! I made a few small additions and substitutions. I used 2 cups of chicken broth and a half cup of water and a half cup of white wine to make up the liquids. I added a can of small white beans to the cauliflower. I used half fat free half and half and half milk. It came out great and was pretty simple.

I am eating low-carb, and made this for dinner tonight. It came out great! I had fresh basil, so I used that as a bit of topping, and I had some black forest ham, so I cut that into ribbons for a garnish.(I used a cup of half-and half cream) The taste reminded me of macaroni and cheese! Yum.

Just made this tonight. Used three strips of bacon and crumbled them, simmered them with the soup and then blended them along with everything else. And fresh thyme! It was fantastic, thanks for the recipe!

I made this tonight. I used three strips of bacon, crumbled them and simmered them in the soup and then blended them along with everything else. Added fresh thyme, and delish! Thanks for the great recipe!

Anonymous: You can just throw all of the ingredients other than the cheese and milk/cream into the crock pot after roasting the cauliflower. You don't need to cook it for that long, 20-30 minutes at high or an hour or two at low will do but you could also cook it at low for 8-9 hours if you want to start it in the morning and have it be ready at night when you get home from work. After it is done cooking, turn the heat off and mix in the cheese, let it melt and then add the heavy cream. Enjoy!

I just made this! OMG! Eating it right now. I topped it with goat cheese and shaved a 12 month old Mimolette on top. I am in heaven right now. BTW, I didn't add cream or milk as it was nice and thick and delicious without it, so why add calories? I also used chicken broth rather than veggie because that is what I had. Soooo good! Thanks!

Made this last night. We LOVED it!!! My husband wish he could have had a 3rd bowl:))) Didn't have the aged white cheese, only cheddar:( Will make with white next time, which will probably be next week:))

This soup is DELICIOUS! I had to fudge a few ingredients based on what I had on hand (chicken broth for vegetable broth, oregano for thyme) and it was still great. It was just a little runny; I don't think I had quite enough cauliflower. The bacon sounds like a great addition, but I'm trying to keep it on the healthier side.

I made this about 2 weeks ago, and it was wonderful, so I'm making it again for Thanksgiving. I am going to try adding a can of white beans to the recipe per some of the suggestions left here. We are having several people, so I'm going to have to make a few batches. Do you think it would be easier to make the batches separately and then combine them when they are all done, or just triple the recipe and do it all at once?

This soup is perfect!!!! I didn't have vegetable broth so I used chicken broth. I also sub.salt with celery salt. I think next time I will sautee alittle diced celery with the onions. I used light cream and my family loved it!!!! This recipe is a keeper!

pinned it yesterday, made it today...awesomeness...I made the following subs, gruyere cheese and almond milk, and I used 4 cups veg broth, since my cauliflower head was pretty big. thanks for sharing this, great recipe.

First, the recipe doesn't say what type of oil, also, if it takes time to cut, toss and roast the florets in the oven that time should be added to the prep time. Therefore the "Prep" time is NOT 10 mins.....just saying.

I made this two times- the first time it turned out perfectly, but the second time it turned out strangely thick... any idea why? I don't think I really did anything differently so I have no idea what happened...

I found your blog a little over 3 hours ago, and have already made and eaten this soup. It was delicious!! My whole family, including the littles, loved it. I'm so excited to have found your blog and I've been pinning recipes like crazy. Thanks!

Made a half recipe with leftover cauliflower and it was yummy. I love lots of black pepper on cheesy soups. Next time I make this, I'm going to find some excellent cheese. I used a pretty plain Vermont white cheddar, but I see how a really nice aged cheddar will add that extra bang. Can't wait to make again.

BTW - A stick blender is such an essential appliance. I find myself making soup all the time since I got one. So much less messy and dangerous than using my food processor.

This is really a delicious soup! I will make it again. I did add extra broth & threw in some extra Thyme! I made bacon to top it off! The Sharp White Cheddar is a nice touch to the soup! I just had our cheese shop in our grocery shred it for me. I bought the good stuff! ;)

Made this soup last night and it was delish! I find that pure cauliflower is a bit bitter for my taste so I added in a bit of regular potatoes and sweet potatoes to make it a bit more creamy. So yummy, thanks!

Does this stuff freeze okay? I live alone and most homemade soup recipes yield way too much for me to eat before it starts to taste off, but some recipes don't all freeze well. Asking because this sounds lovely and fall approaches.

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About Me

I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.